How to Install Tiger in "Legacy" iMac G3

andychrist

andychrist

devil's plaything
The original, tray-loading iMac G-3 is (233-333 MHz) will not install Tiger.

However, Tiger will still run on it, even without the use of Xpostfacto (as long as you have enough RAM. This iMac supports up to 512 MB.)

All you have to do is install Tiger onto your HD from a Mac that is supported (one that has firewire) either using an external enclosure or by temporarily installing it inside the supported computer.

Note that OS X must be installed on an initial partition of less than 8 GB to boot the original iMac. If you are still using your original HD, it is probably under that anyway so you will not need to partition, but you might have to do a custom install to save space. The installer will alert you if this is the case and it will let you de-select all the superfluous components that are not vital to installation. You can actually get away with an install that will take up less that 3 GB. (I had about 1.37 GB remaining free on my original 4 GB HD, I think.)

When you put your drive back in your iMac, it will boot Tiger.

So simple. :)



P.S. When installing from disk, always make sure that it is dust-free and perfectly clean before loading, so that the Installer does not unexpectedly quit. Older optical drives seem especially sensitive in this regard.
 
I thought the iMacs did not have the 8 GB/first partition restriction, though. Am I wrong?
 
The original, tray-loading iMacs certainly have the 8 GB restriction. I know that from sad experience. Don't think the later, slot-loading ones do though.

From Low End Mac:

Mac OS X

If you have a hard drive over 8 GB in size, you must partition it, and the partition containing OS X must be completely within the first 8 GB of space or you will not be able to run OS X. (If you are creating the partition within OS X, it must be 7.45 GB or smaller as reported by Disk Utility, because sometimes a GB is billion bytes and sometimes it's 1,073,741,824 bytes.)

When I finally realized I had to partition my 60 GB drive to install OS X in my iMac G3 233MHz a couple of years ago, I used the sliding partition feature in DU to create a number one Volume just a hair's breadth under 8 GB and that worked fine.
 

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Hi,

I too want to install Tiger on my Rev B iMac, 233mhz, 4GB hard drive, 160MB RAM.

I have an aluminum PowerBook G4 running Tiger with a DVD drive and the original Tiger DVD disks.

BUT

How do I install from the PowerBook to the iMac when the iMac doesn't have a firewire port?

Thanks in advance for walking me through!

Zim
 
Apple does not grant you a license to use your installation disk on a second machine, unless you have purchased the family pack of the retail edition.

Anyway, I have recently learned of an even easier way to install Tiger in unsupported New World Macs. It involves the creation and very simple modification of a disk image of the Installer, to remove said Mac from the list of "badMachines."

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051211074138859

http://jonsharp.net/archives/2005/05/06/installing-tiger-on-lombard/
 
Not to worry, my copy of Tiger is brand new and unopened/unused purchased from our local computer shop. I was going to update a Titanium PowerBook we use in our office, but my boss decided we should migrate to Windows platform. Now a nice new Dell Latitude occupies a former Mac space :-(

He also thinks that Windows Vista will spell the doom of the Mac. (Didn't stop him from giving his niece the Ti Book though!)

I'm going to return the Tiger and see if our computer shop can find me a copy of Jaguar. I think that it supports the tray-loading iMacs and if I remember correctly comes on CD ROM.

Thanks for the advice.

Zim

Oh, I will probably be back to find for help with the install!
 
Go for Panther instead, it's far less buggy than Jag and will run fast on a 233 G3 iMac with plenty of RAM, but i'd get a cheap hard drive, say 10-20Gb and put that in or things will be very slow as the machine runs out of VM quickly with a small disk.

You still have to partition your drive so that the OS is on a partition of <8Gb, but you can take the opportunity to try one of the hacks that allows you to create a dedicated swap partition, which speeds things up a lot on an old machine.
 
Octavedoctor,

Thanks, my local computer shop has Panther in stock. However, I may re-think my plan because I really don't want to crack open the iMac to install a new hard drive, or more memory for that matter.

Years ago I had to open my Mac Plus and that was not real easy. I don't relish flipping over and opening up the iMac (it looks harder).

Maybe I'll just nurse this one along and get a used G4 system when I can find one.

What do you think?

Zim
 
It's not as hard as it looks actually; the CD drive, hard drive and logic board all slide out as a unit held in by just two screws. There are a few cables to disconnect but it's impossible to connect them back up the wrong way. The hardest thing is getting the whole module back in as it has flanges which run on a pair of pins each side and if you miss one it won't locate properly.

You need a certain amount confidence and self assurance to tackle it though so if you aren't sure you can handle it then the greater wisdom is to leave well alone.


In any case, I'm not sure you couldn't squeeze panther on a 4Gb drive if you disabled all the additional stuff at install. I may try it on mine; i'll let you know if it works...
 
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